Credit: Wikipedia Commons /   Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire Amadou Gon Coulibaly

DIPLOMATIC  TIMES  STAFF

The Prime Minister of Ivory Coast Amadou Gon Coulibaly reportedly arrived in Paris early Sunday for medical tests on Monday at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, according to JueneAfrique.   The magazine reported the 61-year-old Ivorian prime minister felt extremely tired during the evening of 1 May and had also experienced stomach pain. On the evening of 2 May, Coulibaly  took off from Abidjan for Paris on board a Gulfstream VU-TAE, one of the aircrafts in Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential fleet, JueneAfrique reported. France gave the green light for the flight at a time when European airspace is almost entirely closed, according to the magazine. “He felt something was off and didn’t want to take any chances”, said a person close to President Alassane Ouattara, as reported by JueneaAfrique.  “When you skip an important medical check-up, you can really pay the price. This is a stressful time for him, he needs rest.”  Between the end of March and early April, he had already been forced to self-quarantine for two weeks after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, but his trip to Paris is not coronavirus related – JueneAfrique.  Ever since the prime minister underwent a heart transplant at the Paris hospital in June 2012, he regularly returns to have his most important health screenings performed there.  The prime minister’s stay in France is expected to last at least a week. In his absence, Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko is serving as acting prime minister. In March, President Ouattara designated Gon Coulibaly as the ruling RHDP party’s candidate for October’s presidential election after saying he would not himself seek a third term.